From: Twitter
Subject Line: "Fake Name" is now following you on Twitter!
Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2009

I'm sorry... I know it's not a very nice thing to say, and I'll probably catch flak for it, but I am simply just not feeling the love for Twitter. I have an account for purely professional purposes, but I'm having a hard time getting over the lack of "real" connection, and it seems like every time I get a new "follower", it's some creep or weirdo that I don't know. It makes me wonder what it is about my profile that is attracting these people! Even though I have the option to block them, it's still annoying to have to take the step to do so, plus there is the time in between when they start following you, and when you block them that they can be checking out your profile. In addition to my privacy "issues", I just can't get over the hump with feeling comfortable about Tweeting - like it's too self-important.

I will say one nice thing about Twitter: in comparison to the ho-hum Friend Request emails from Facebook and Yelp (which was my last blogpost), Twitter at least has has a pretty looking one with a picture of your new "follower" (about which fellow Smith-Harmon blogger Darah MacLean commented here). I guess it just bothers me though that one gets "followed" on Twitter as opposed to "friend requested" like other social net working sites. In my mind "follow" has a sort of a stalker-esque connotation.

I'm very curious to know how others are adjusting to the Twitter world, and welcome any comments here!  :)

From: PayPal
Subject Line: RE: FW: Account Validation Required
Date: June 10, 2009

For over a week I received an email a day supposedly from PayPal with the subject line Account Validation Required. They all landed in my Junk folder, which was good, but when I started receiving two a day, I decided enough with the phishing.

Of course, I knew that the fact it was from a .uk address was phishy, and I knew enough not to click on anything or give them any info. But I couldn't help but think about all the thousands of people who probably don't know it's a scam. Scary.  I forwarded the email to the address that the REAL PayPal site provides in the event that you think an email is a phishing scam: spoof@paypal.com.

Within an hour, I received this email back (check it out to the left). I really applaud PayPal for their follow-through, and I really like the tone of the copy. The good news: No more emails from the phony-baloney PayPal site with the .uk address. Now if we can just get rid of phishing scams all together, we'll be golden.

From: TheKnot.com
Subject Line: Welcome to The Knot!
Date: Sunday, February 8, 2009

From: OurWeddingDay.com
Subject Line: Welcome to OurWeddingDay.com
Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009

From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Have fun with your Gift Registry
Date: Thursday, February 12, 2009

Wow. I received 3 Welcome emails this week that displayed my password in the email. (I have censored out my password in the links above.) I don't know if there is rule against doing this, but there should be. Email is far from secure, and I would hate to have my password fall into the wrong hands. It also hurts my trust in the brand - if I'm not safe giving my password to Crate & Barrel, where am I safe?

From:American Eagle Outfitters
Subject Line: AEO Affiliate Marketing Communications Notice
Date: October 14, 2008

A few hours after I posted my blog entry on Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister's privacy policy I got this email from American Eagle Outfitters, good timing! I definitely commend them for sending out this email and giving their subscribers the choice on whether or not they want to subscribe to their affiliates' emails. I can't decide whether or not this was the best approach for American Eagle though. On one hand I love that they gave their subscribers a choice but on the other hand I feel like they could have given their subscribers a more compelling reason or reasons as to why they should stay subscribed to their affiliates' emails. Thoughts?

From:Ruehl
Subject Line: Get Into a Little Trouble.
Date: October 14, 2008

I opened up my inbox this morning to find that I had received this email from Ruehl. I racked my brain trying to remember if I had somehow signed up for their emails way back when and had forgotten. The conclusion I came to: I've never even heard of them so there is no way I could have signed up! So I decided to do some investigative work on their website. Turns out that they are affiliated with Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister and I receive emails from both retailers. My suggestion to all three retailers: If you want to introduce an affiliate company to your email subscribers then send it from the company that they originally signed up with to avoid angry subscribers. People take their privacy very seriously these days so, breaking their trust by sharing your email address with another company without making it very clear to them that you are going to do so is a big no no. This could be done with a simple email with a message like this: "You already love Abercrombie & Fitch so, why not take a look at our sister brand Ruehl". Harry & David did a good job with this when they wanted to introduce their subscribers to their new brand Wolferman's. This lets your subscribers know that while you still value their privacy you don't want them to miss out on this amazing new opportunity!